While some communities are starting to open up from the shelter in place during the pandemic, travel is still risky and not all local friends are down with hanging out in person. We still need connection and Kat Vellos wrote a book to help you navigate and keep in touch.
Do you wish you could feel closer to your friends who are far away? Just because you’re physically or geographically separated doesn’t mean you have to grow apart or let your conversations stagnate in repetitive daily updates. You can still deepen and strengthen your bonds from far away with a little bit of intention, creativity and a willingness to try something new.
“If this isn’t irony I don’t know what is. A few months ago I released a book called We Should Get Together. It was a response to the loneliness epidemic in America and the world. At the time of my research in 2018-2019, 46 percent of Americans reported feeling lonely on a regular basis, and in the short time since the book’s release in January 2020 that number had risen 61 percent. And something else happened several weeks after that: The coronavirus pandemic, also known as COVID19 swept the planet.”
In this quick and easy guide, Kat Vellos, author of We Should Get Together and creator of Better than Small Talk, gives you the tools to breathe new life and fresh connection into your existing friendships. Get six months of weekly connection prompts you can start using with your friends today. You can even try these activities with family members and romantic partners, too. Filled with creative activities, conversation starters, journaling prompts and art project ideas, Connected from Afar will help you feel closer and more connected, no matter how far away you are.
KAT’S BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE ON AMAZON:
Connected From Afar: A Guide for Staying Close When You’re Far Away
We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships
ABOUT KAT VELLOS:
Kat Vellos is a user experience designer with a passion for helping people connect authentically. She want to empower people to learn, grow and thrive. She helps others transform platonic longing, loneliness and disconnection into meaningful connection and community.
As a user experience designer, she’s worked for Slack and Pandora, as well as with the creators of Siri designing the first iteration of Bixby. Kat has been profiled in Forbes and quoted in FastCompany for her work as the founder of Bay Area Black Designers which is a professional development community for Black designers and UX researchers. She’s researched, designed, and advised on the user experience of countless flows in digital products serving millions of people.
When she’s not posting doodles about friendship on Instagram, you can find her on the hunt for the Bay Area’s best tacos.
Kat provides:
– UX design consulting and product strategy for companies who are dedicated to creating healthy connection in people’s lives and a more just world.
– Coaching and facilitation for individuals and groups that want to experience more authentic connection and healthy interpersonal relationships and teams.
– Keynotes, workshops and interviews about the cultivation of positive relationships and community, healthy teams and workplace culture, and author talks based on her book We Should Get Together.